Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 114 - 100 Night Chase_2

Chapter 114: Chapter 100 Night Chase_2

Stone said, "They seem to envy you for living freely, while they are confined to fixed jobs. A psychological gap has emerged as a result."

Maya said, "It’s our rest time now. I haven’t stopped anyone from doing anything during their breaks. Bai Ban also spontaneously levels up near the base during their rest time."

Stone said, "Let me be more direct. They feel left behind. Everyone started from the same starting line, but now you are eating steak, and they are still eating grass. While you are killing Titans, they are still engaged in the most basic scavenging and dismantling work."

Lin Wu asked, "What do you mean, Stone?"

Stone said, "Keep a low profile! When asked where you went to play during the day, just say you were researching the drop rate of the Frenzy Skill Book. When asked where you went at night, just say you got lost in the park and only brought some trash back home. I’m not saying that Bai Ban is not generous, but after all, even the most outstanding people can feel jealousy or envy of others’ accomplishments."

Lin Wu could relate, "Only a no-good person with no ambition wouldn’t envy a better life."

Stone sighed, "It’s hard to balance being content with what one has and being diligent in self-improvement, so I can’t say if your statement is right or wrong. Speaking of the specific case, Shana used to partner with you, Lin Wu. During the day, you would be shooting guns alone at the base, without many activities at night. When Maya led Bai Ban, the daily work was the monotonous dismantling and scavenging. Do you understand the feeling of being left out?"

Lin Wu was beginning to understand, "When I’m with Maya, I don’t have to worry about her dying, nor do I have to worry about what to say to the base if she died, so I can play however I want without any concerns. Likewise, Maya doesn’t have to worry about my life or death, or about explaining to the base if I died."

Stone’s companion, Su Shi, interjected, "In my opinion, it’s a matter of a sense of achievement. Currently, everyone at the base is indispensable, and everyone has made a lot of contributions. But some contributions are visible, like the Press modulator and Skill Book you brought back today, Lin Wu and Maya. Some contributions are also visible but taken for granted, like moving furniture from the apartment to the pickup truck on the ground floor."

Recalling the previous day’s experience, Lin Wu said, "Some people’s contributions are invisible but very important. Like you, Su Shi, though people may not feel your contributions, without you, our base might easily fall into a shortage of materials, just like Invincible."

Su Shi waved his hand with a laugh, "I just do what I can."

Maya looked at Lin Wu, "Do we need to change?"

Lin Wu nodded, "Little Knife and I will take the night shift." Although teaming up with Maya was the most fun, the community needed Maya.

Maya disagreed, "Little Knife is the only one besides you capable of soloing Frenzy on their own."

Lin Wu asked, "What if I join Bai Ban and you pair up with Little Knife for the night shift?"

Maya still shook her head. Why should two people without Agility take on the work of stealth during the night shift? It would be better to go full Bai Ban, split into two shifts.

Stone suggested, "I recommend Maya return to Bai Ban. Lin Wu, you do whatever you want at night, just don’t die out there."Lin Wu had no objections, "Agreed." After all, one could still have a great time alone.

Maya nodded, "All right." Maya knew she should be with Bai Ban; Shana couldn’t provide effective advice to the Bai Ban members in terms of skills and techniques. As Su Shi said, the base’s eight people were all indispensable, and each person contributed to the base. Maya, with a sense of the bigger picture, naturally had to give up the unrestrained fun with Lin Wu and focus on work that would enhance the overall strength of the base.

...

With Maya’s arrival, Bai Ban held a small meeting in the wilderness, and in the afternoon, they discovered a bountiful two-story farm. Around 7 p.m., Bai Ban returned to the base through the Sentry Card, by which time Lin Wu had already driven the night shift away in the pickup.

The pickup truck had no anti-theft feature, so Lin Wu didn’t drive far before hiding the vehicle in a factory near the bridge. It was not for any other reason; he suddenly missed Amanda from Olive Manor. Although Amanda ignored him, killing Amanda would yield keys, and if Amanda could respawn infinitely, he could take his brothers for a few bountiful runs.

Walking to Olive Manor, Lin Wu searched along the small ditch and was scared three times during the process, confirming that Amanda had not respawned. It made sense, as the rewards for Amanda’s mission were quite good, and her mission was designed to trap players doing it for the first time; a repeat respawn that made things easy didn’t fit Dawn’s style.

Where should he go tonight?

Lin Wu sat by the roadside, looking at the church on the hilltop hundreds of meters away, feeling somewhat unaccustomed to being alone. To get rid of such negative thoughts, Lin Wu rolled around on the highway a few times, something he would never do if someone was with him.

Eventually, Lin Wu decided to head to the Forest Park near the outpost, since the investigation of North Lake had been interrupted last time due to Shana’s death. Get lost? Impossible, a Saint would not be hit by the same move twice, and if necessary, he would just pre-draw a navigation map.

By now, Lin Wu had no interest in small zombies. He quickly walked through stealth mode, avoiding the zombies on the road as much as possible, and soon reached the parking spot. The car was parked on the left side of the factory gate. In order to reverse more safely, and to prevent zombies from disturbing the car start-up, Lin Wu circled around, taking out all the zombies within ten meters of the car.

Just as Lin Wu was about to get in the car, he heard the rustling sound of footsteps coming from the road behind the wall. Was it a passerby player or a player from the base? From the footsteps, it seemed there was only one person. Lin Wu turned off his flashlight, climbed onto the wall using the stacked wooden boxes, and with the help of moonlight, saw Shana walking alone, four meters in front.

Lin Wu wanted to jump down and scare Shana, but she walked briskly, causing him to miss the chance. This also piqued Lin Wu’s curiosity. Had Shana dropped something?

Curious, Lin Wu moved along the wall, taking out any zombies he encountered and followed all the way to the end of the factory fence. Peering out, he saw Shana crossing a small bridge ten meters away, heading toward Wilderness Farm.

At that moment, there was a flash of light beneath the tree to the right of the bridge, and Shana quickened her pace to the tree. Using the Silencer’s six-times scope, Lin Wu looked toward the tree and saw Shana talking with someone standing behind it, about a meter apart. Lin Wu could only see somebody behind the tree but not their identity. The worst part was, he didn’t have the Sentry Card’s display mirror with him, which would have allowed him to identify the person through the system.

Shady dealings—was Shana a mole? What was the point of having a mole in the game? Although Shana was promoted to Deputy Commander and could directly apply for supplies, Stone knew everything Shana had applied for. A bounty? To take all valuable items? Silencer, Raider... It seemed like only Raider of the Shadow base was somewhat valuable. Oh right, there were also a bunch of Skill Books that nobody had learned yet.

Steal a vehicle? Overlord was worth quite a bit, and if she were to steal vehicles and items, she should have acted earlier.

Covertly kill comrades? That was not easy, and even if Shana could kill the Soulless brother and Little Knife, it would be very difficult to kill him and Maya, not to mention Su Shi and Stone, who rarely left the base. What purpose would killing the three members of Bai Ban serve?

Lin Wu believed that this meeting had to be secretive; otherwise, being only three hundred meters from the base, why couldn’t the person with the flashlight just go directly to the base to find Shana?

The only possibility Lin Wu could think of was harboring an enemy within. After some thought, he realized that Shadow had no enemies. Based on his first-time calculation of killing Shana, Shana hadn’t lived alone for many days, spending most of her time with people from the base. This meant that Shana had spent far more time with the base than with anyone else.

While Lin Wu was contemplating, Shana ended her conversation and walked toward the base. The flashlight person turned on the flashlight and went off into the wilderness. After Shana had passed, Lin Wu climbed over the rear wall and crossed the small bridge, beginning to pursue the flashlight person. When Lin Wu got close, the person with the flashlight picked up a motorcycle from the side of the road, mounted it, and drove on the wilderness path.

Lin Wu was quite familiar with the area and knew the possible routes the motorcycle could take. So he left the path and ran in a straight line through the night, fitting the Silencer with a silencer. The sparse zombie population in the wilderness made it easy for Lin Wu. He got to the intersection ahead of the motorcycle and lay in ambush at the roadside, gun aimed and ready.

When the motorcycle passed by the intersection and bounced slightly, Lin Wu fired and shot it flying. Seeing the direction the motorcycle took, Lin Wu deduced its likely route and continued to run in a straight line, once again arriving at the second intersection before the motorcycle.